APUSH Unit 11 Quiz

Stock Market Crash

Stock Market Crash

Reasons:

• Uneven distribution of income

• Stock Market speculation

• Excessive use of credit

• Overproduction of consumer goods

• Weak farm economy

• Government policies

• Global economy problems

Results:

• The value of all the goods and services produced by the nation in one year dropped from $104 billion to $56 million in four years

• Nation’s income declined by over 50%

• 20% of all banks closed

• Number of unemployed had reached 13 million people

• Ended Republican domination of government

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

• One of the highest tariff rates in history

• Passed by the Republican Congress set tax increases ranging from 31% to 49% on foreign imports

• Effect was to reduce trade for all nations, meaning that both the national and international economies sank further into depression

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

Federally funded government-owned corporation as a measure for propping up faltering railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions

Bonus March

A thousand unemployed World War 1 veterans marched to Washington, D.C., to demand immediate payment of the bonuses promised them at a later date

• The incident caused many Americans to regard Hoover as heartless and uncaring

Election of 1932

• Republican- Hoover

• Democrat- NY Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Almost 60% of them concluded that it was time for a change, Roosevelt only getting six states

Background on FDR

• A distant cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt

• Expanded the size of the federal gov., altered its scope of operations, and greatly enlarged presidential powers

• Became one of the most influential world leaders of the 20th century

Eleanor Roosevelt

• Roosevelt’s wife emerged as a leader in her own right

• Most active first lady in history, writing a newspaper column, giving speeches, and traveling the country

• Served as the president’s social conscience and influenced him to support minorities and the less fortunate

Brain Trust

A group of advisors who had assisted Roosevelt while he was governor of NY

• University professors who gave him advice on economic matters

20/21 Amendment

20th

• Known as the lame-duck amendment

• Shortened the period between presidential election and inauguration

• Set the start of each president’s term for January 20

21st

• Repealed the 18th amendment, bringing Prohibition to an end

Fireside Chats

An influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between the President and the American people

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Guaranteed individual bank deposits

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A huge experiment in regional development and public planning

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

An attempt to guarantee reasonable profits for business and fair wages and hours for labor

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Created to regulate the stock market and to place strict limits on the kind of speculative practices that had led to the Wall Street crash in 1929

• Monitors the Stock Market

Wager Act

Guaranteed a worker’s right to join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively

• Outlawed business practices that were unfair to labor

Social Security Act

Created a federal insurance program based upon the automatic collection o payments from employees and employees throughout people’s working careers

• Government aid for the unemployed, disabled and elderly

  • Used to make monthly payments to retired persons over the age of 65

Election of 1936

• Democrat- Roosevelt

• Republican- Alf Landon

  • Roosevelt swamped Landon, winning every state except Maine and Vermont and more than 60% of the popular vote

  • New support for the Democrats came from African Americans who left the Republican party because of Roosevelt’s New Deal

Townsend (Critic)

Dr. Francis E. Townsend proposed that a 2% federal sales tax be used to create a special fund, from which every retired person over 60 years old would receive $200 a month

Long (Critic)

Huey Long became a prominent national figure by proposing a “Share Our Wealth” program that promised a minimum annual income of $5,000 for every American family, to be paid for by taxing the wealthy

FDR and the Supreme Court

Conservative decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court proved the most frustrating to Roosevelt’s leadership in his first term

• Supreme Court effectively killed both the NRA for business recovery and the AAA for agricultural recovery by deciding that the laws creating them were unconstitutional

  • Court Reorganization Plan

Dust Bowl

A severe drought ruined crops in the Great Plains

• Major causes were drought, over-farming, and the erosion of the topsoil

• With their farms turned to dust, and their health often compromised

Affects of the New Deal

• Massive expansion of the federal gov. and its role in the lives of Americans

• The growth of the powers of the president

• The public would now expect the gov. to solve their economic problems

Hoover and FDR different views on handling the depression

• Hoover was hesitant to provide direct relief and felt it would make the public too dependent on the government

  • He felt the depression would cycle itself out

• FDR felt direct relief was necessary and the New Deal procided those programs

One of FDR’s biggest early challenges

To fix the Banks and give people confidence in the banks again

• FDIC insured savings in bank